Hygge Adventures: 072: Erie Canal Part 4: Old Locks and Big Falls

Here is the picture that Bob Stopper took of us at the Lyon's lock:

After Lyons the EC starts to look less like a river and more like, well, a canal. The Empire State Trail really starts to parallel the EC and you see lots of cyclists, joggers, and just people out an about.

The area also gets more of a rural feel in stretches, we passed farms and orchards:

We headed to Pittsford, which is phenomenal. The free wall is at Canal Park in the center of the village and within walking distance of three coffee shops, a great ice cream place and numerous restaurants (we liked the Greek place across the canal). Best of all you can ride your bikes on the Empire State Trail all the way to Wegmans Grocery Store, which is like Whole Foods on steroids. The trail goes by the original EC lock #60 which was neat to see.

Old Lock:

Re-purposed silo to office building:

Townhall:

We met up with Sandy, a cousin (in-law) of mine, and when I sent her a picture of our boat tied up, so she’d know where to find us, she texted back a picture of Hygge with a “LOL, I am at my son’s orthodontist appointment looking down at your boat.” That night we listened to a concert in the park next to the boat, the high school jazz band playing brought back memories of attending our son’s jazz band concerts. The next day we “mooched around” and saw some sites, the converted silo to office building was really cool (see picture). The next evening, we enjoyed seeing the kids going to prom that night taking pictures at the park.

Me and Sandy:

After two great days at Pittsford which included me cleaning, polishing and waxing the hull while in the water, we left for Brockport. We quickly went through Locks 32 and 33, and bonus: the next lock was sixty-four miles away! At Spencerport we came to the first of two lift bridges approximately three miles apart. We didn’t get an answer when we hailed the bridge tender, so we decided to tie up to the free wall and walk around the town and have lunch (unfortunately, it being a Sunday, the Canal Museum there was closed). After lunch we made contact and the bridge tender explained that he works at both bridges and was at the other one (Adam’s Basin). Morale of the story: you must be patient!

We then made our way to Brockport and tied up to the wall, which for a flat rate of $20, got us water, power, and bathroom/showers.

Brockport has a nice little downtown of historic late 19^th and early 20^th century brick buildings and one of the country’s oldest continuously operating movie theaters. We took the opportunity to see our first movie theater movie in eight months!

The next day we went thirty-six n/m’s to Lockport. The area started to get more of a rural feel, passing lots of farms and orchards. When we got to Lockport, we had another double lock and went up Locks 34 and 35 in successive stages. We tied up to the Lock 35 basin and managed to get the one power pedestal. Lockport has limited free space, maybe just four boats at the lock, but there is a small marina a mile east of the town.

Hygge at Lockport Locks:

Lockport was great, especially if you are interested in the history of the EC. They have preserved the “flight of five” locks circa mid-1800’s and it is very interesting to see how those original locks and gate mechanisms worked. The two lockmasters we met were absolute gems and spent a lot of their downtime with us giving us the lay of the land on the locks, area, etc. There is the Erie Canal Discovery Center and the Locks District Museum right near the locks that are must-see stops.

Flight of Five with recreation of a canal barge;

From Lockport we rented a car and went to Niagara Fall and took the famous “Maid of the Mist” boat tour. What can we say about Niagara Falls that hasn’t been said? Just fantastic.